DiggersList For Disasters

We often lead ourselves to believe that a natural disaster will never hit our home. Yet, thousands of people’s homes are annually hit by fire, floods, earthquakes, tornados and hurricanes.  What’s worse, many home owners don’t carry the proper insurance to cover damages caused by natural disasters.

Matt Knox, Founder and CEO of DiggersList, a home improvement online resource, has 10 quick and cheap home-protection tips that will help you minimize damages to your home and your wallet.

For earthquakes:

• Fasten lamps, china and other small valuables to shelves or surfaces with puttylike anchoring or museum wax.
• Install latches on cabinet door in order to keep contents inside
• Secure your water heater to a wall stud with a water-heater strap

For fires:

• Install a fireplace screen to keep embers inside
• Have a spark arrestor installed in your chimney

For floods and rain:

• Install weather-stripping on and around doors and windows to prevent water from seeping into your home.
• Install storm shutters or create your own using precut sheets of plywood cut to fit into each window
• Install storm doors

Many of these items can be found via DiggersList, which when compared to stores like Home Depot can get save you 50 cents to the dollar on every purchase.

DiggersList is now available in Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. However, they are looking for referrals to new cities to start lists in. So you can goto DiggersList.com and suggest a new city now.

The Plus Size Mommy

Do you Do the 5-Second Rule?* (WIN)

Ahh the mighty 5-second rule. Yep, we use it at our home (MOST of the time). Although lately I am thinking renewed stipulations are needed to be told to my children

This came about when my 10 yr. old son was eating spaghetti with meatball’s one night a couple weeks ago, and well, we all know the song…and then my poor meatball fell down to the floor, rolled out the door, and became a spaghetti tree?

NOT HERE…. Nope, after my son’s meatball fell onto the floor he picked it up, and popped it back into his mouth, before anyone could even say a word and ate it ! YUCK, yea, I know…I was so grossed out, he didn’t even look at it to see if any dirt was on it! ICK, I still gag thinking about it. But to a boy of age 10, this was most cool and funny. NOTTT!

So, I ask…Do you incorporate the 5 second rule in your home ?

I mean, if it is like a piece of something that the chance of something sticking to it is slim, I don’t mind, but a sauce covered meatball, this is where I draw the line, lol

A few days ago, I was asked to work with Clorox again on a campaign with Samantha Bee (From the  ”Daily Show”). She discussed the 5 sec. rule , you can read more about it here :  http://simpleandsurprising.com/

WIN!!!!

I am able to offer you a Clorox Gift pack values at $20 with a variety of Clorox Products!

You can enter Just by sharing with us your favorite funny 5-sec. rule story. The guidelines are below to enter to win

• Do you or someone in your family follow the 5-second rule? – comment and tell us who uses it and with what ? = 1 entry
• Who’s more likely to follow the 5-second rule in your house? – comment and tell us who and if anyone is against it, tell that too! = 1 entry
• What are the most popular items to 5-second rule? – comment and tell what are the top 5 items where the 5 sec. rule is used on most frequently = 1 entry
• Do you have a funny 5-second rule story? – comment with your funny story = 1 entry
• Thinking about Sam Bee’s style, what’s your parenting style? – comment and tell us how you parent = 1 entry
• Share a picture or funny video with us (send a link) of someone using the 5 sec. rule – comment with a link to the photo or video = 5 entries !!!!

This contest starts NOW and will end on Feb.  9th, 2010 at 8PM EST. Winners will be posted to this site. As with all giveaways winner MUST be a subscriber to this site, either via subscription or through Facebook feed. Winner will be posted to this site by Feb. 10th, 2010. Winner will have 48 hours to email me to claim their prize.

Have fun with this, I am sure this can generate a lot of funny stories and photo’s, I would love to hear them and share them.

There is MORE… Here are some other bloggers who are also holding the giveaway of the Clorox Prize pack, so you can visit their blogs and have even MORE chances to win!

• CONSUMER QUEEN
• BanteringBlonde

Thank you to all who enter and Good Luck !!!

The Plus Size Mommy

*Please note, stories, video’s, and photo’s may be posted to the Clorox  Facebook page*

*I am being compensated via giftcard for this post*

Q-tips and Elephants you can WIN*

Q-tips® cotton swabs has teamed up with Celebrity Nursery Designer, Wendy Bellissimo, to introduce the newest addition to the Q-tips® family – Q-tips® Baby Packs.  Wendy, who is no stranger to designing perfect nursery spaces, has worked with celebrity moms like Brooke Shields and Kelly Ripa.  She has great tips and tricks to create a nursery that is both beautiful and practical … to care for any baby with style!

I was sent a nursery pack with the following included :

o   NEW Q-tips® Baby Packs in two designs (safari & farm animals)

- The new Q-tips® Baby Packs are a stylish nursery essential that are functional and finally cute enough to keep out in the baby’s room

-  In two adorable nursery animal designs, these space-saving packs make it easy for mom to keep Q-tips® cotton swabs at her fingertips and feature a sliding drawer that helps keep Q-tips® clean for use in baby care

o   A chic, silver elephant bank to display in baby’s room – another nursery design essential

o   OH BABY!   Wendy Bellissimo Shares Her Tips on How To Create The Perfect Nursery

The Q-tip nursery boxes are simply adorable. When the Q-tips are gone I am going to re-purpose them to hold my daughters little jewelry and hair accessories. They are too cute to throw away. I love how they slide too. There are 285 Q-tips in each pack. (will be coming to Walmart and Target and will retail for about  $3.19 per pack).

The little silver elephant bank is simply gorgeous. It has pastel colors on it too. It is a heavy little bank and will make my daughters nursery even more complete. Every little baby needs a bank to keep their money from birthdays and holidays. Or for potty time rewards when the time comes.

TIPS from Wendy Bellissimo :

1. Be Your Own Designer: Go through magazines, catalogs and visit baby & furniture stores to see the looks available. Choose a style that feels most natural to you so the nursery can become an extension of your home. Then create your own book or board of clippings, fabric samples and photos for inspiration. Start the design process well before your due date so that you have time to relax before the baby’s arrival.
2. Save the Paint for Last: Select your nursery furniture and fabric before you paint. It is easy to find a paint shade to match your furniture/fabrics and not always the other way around. Keep in mind, furniture and fabrics do not all need to match – a great mix of textures that complement each other can add a truly custom, “designer” feel.
3. Don’t Sacrifice Style for Functionality: It is easy to create a beautiful, organized space in the nursery to care for your baby (without the piles of diapers and a mess of toiletries). Place a basket or fabric covered box (from an arts & crafts or paper store) on the changing table or shelf above and fill with diapers, Vaseline® petroleum jelly, diaper cream and rubbing alcohol. One nursery essential you won’t have to hide is the new Q-tips® Baby Pack! They are available in two adorable nursery animal designs and are functional (with a new sliding drawer that keeps Q-tips® cotton swabs protected for baby) so they can always be within arm’s reach.
4. Add a Personal Touch: Give your nursery a personal touch by adding framed covers of your favorite childhood books or classic black & white or sepia photos of you and your significant other when you were babies.
5. Create A Sleepy Time Sanctuary: We all need our beauty rest, so it is important to create an environment that’s peaceful for your baby to sleep. Create a calming atmosphere with soothing colors and softer tones rather than bright or harsh colors. Then, use accents to add pops of color without being too overwhelming. Be careful not to make the room too dark or too quiet at nap time. This way your child will be able to fall asleep in any environment, which is great when you are traveling or when new siblings arrive! You can also play soft, soothing music or lullabies to help the baby fall asleep.
6. Room to Grow: Choose design options that can grow with your child – consider color palette, furniture style, storage options and a play/reading area. Look for a dresser with drawers and cabinets, rather than a standard changing table and simply secure a changing pad on top. Once your child outgrows diapers, you will have a beautiful piece of furniture with drawers for clothing and cabinets for toys that are within reach for your child.
7. X vs. Y: Not finding out the sex of your baby? No worries! Design a gender-neutral nursery with yellow, green, white or crème and simply add touches of blue or pink accessories when the baby arrives – these simple changes can be made to anything from the receiving blanket to the changing pad. These color options also give you the flexibility to use the bedding over again for a new sibling.
8. To Theme or Not to Theme: Nursery themes such as safari, princess or transportation are a great way to create a fun, lighthearted statement. A themed nursery can still be done tastefully if the items are selected in moderation. For example, if you are doing a safari-style mural, keep bedding and fabrics neutral so the room doesn’t look overdone.
9. Accessorize: A few must-have accessories for any nursery are books, books and more books! You can also add a silver piggy bank and a few irresistibly soft stuffed animals that will quickly become your child’s best friends! Even my celebrity clients still go for the traditional accessories – they bring us all back to that magical time of childhood.
10. The Essentials: When designing your nursery (large or small), you should always keep these essentials in mind – a crib, rocker, changing table/dresser, light dimmer switch and books within the little one’s reach. If you do not have enough space for a bookcase, a basket for the floor will do the trick perfectly. Your little one will be crawling around before you know it and handing you their favorite book at bedtime!

NOW you can WIN  a fantastic nursery pack which includes the 2 packs of Q-tips (one in each style) and the adorable elephant bank !!! (winners MUST be subscribers to this blog)

HERE IS HOW :

• Tweet the following on twitter :  ” WIN Q-tips and Elephants on @plussizemommy ’s  blog      http://bit.ly/5fOMS3      ” – every tweet earns an entry up to 4 tweets accepted per day!
• Join us at the Twitter Party on January 28th from  8-9 pm EST.  #QtipsBaby  sponsored by Q-tips. Hosted by @MomTalkRadio (Maria Bailey, Founder of MomSelect and Mom of 4)
  while at the twitter party TWEET ME (@plussizemommy) and say, I am here = 2 entries. comment and let me know you tweeted me. (separate entries please.)
• Comment and tell me what your MUST HAVE nursery accessory is = 1 entry per comment up to 3 total.
• Comment and tell me which Q tips box you like the best, Safari or Farm animals = 1 entry (total of 1 allowed)
• use stumbleupon, technorati, digg for this site/post.  - comment letting me know which you have done = 1 entry per way.

• fave my site on momfaves – comment and let me know you have = 1 entry

This is a fabulous prize that I know the winner will just love.

This giveaway starts NOW and ends on Feb. 1, 2010 at 9pm EST. Winner will be chosen via random.org. Winners name will be posted to this site on Feb. 2 . Winners will not be emailed so please be sure to check back to see who wins

Good Luck to everyone and thank you so much for entering.

The Plus Size Mommy

*I was sent a nursery gift pack which includes the Qtips and the silver elephant bank. The winners prize will be sent from Mom Select on behalf of Qtips to the winner at no charge to me. Thank you to Mom Select for asking me to work on this campaign with them.

Winners of DOVE make a difference in a girls life Prize Pack

Congrats to the 2 winners of the DOVE Prize packs for making a difference in a girl’s life. KUDO’S to you both!!!

• Patti Bright
• Figaro1

Please email me within 48 hours with your home address’s and Subject Line “DOVE WINNER” to claim your prize pack! You are gonna love this prize pack!!

ENJOY and again thank you for being an influencer!

The Plus Size Mommy

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Clorox is helping to make cleaning the toilet not seem so bad* and you can WIN!

The task of cleaning the toilet with having a family of 6 is very daunting. Especially right now when my daughter is still in potty training. Sometimes the little if you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be a sweety and wipe the seaty definitely applies here!

But I have been sent a product that makes cleaning the bowl a whole heck of a lot nicer and less daunting. Not to mention it disposable, so you dont have to even touch the icky parts. With a click of the eject button the head of the brush falls off into the garbage can, never to be seen again! Yes, I know some of you are saying, what about the waste? Well, I do try very hard to be “green” and use products that are sustainable. But sometimes you have to choose things that clean and disinfect for the health of your household. This is one place I choose not to be so green. It kills 99.9% of germs and to me having a healthier home outweighs the disposal bit of waste.

I love that this product by Clorox is so smooth and easy to use. It swishes around the toilet bowl and turns the water a pretty blue. The fresh scent is an absolute plus too. Nothing like a fresh smelling bathroom. Clorox has always been one of my favorite cleaning products due to the fresh scent it leaves behind.

Using the Toilet wand is a snap. I also love the new container they made to go along with the wand. It holds all the refills all tidy and nice, so now I wont have to go searching when I need a bowl clean! I like this much better than the old system of sticking a plastic tab on the side of the toilet and hanging the wand there. This is so much nicer looking.

Please feel free to visit www.clorox.com as well to learn more about the Toilet Wand and also more great products they have to offer.

Now you can have yourself a wonderfully clean and fresh smelling bathroom as well !!! Click HERE to download a $5 off coupon to use on your next bathroom. And if you have 2 bathrooms like me, PRINT 2 of them !!!  Also be on the watch at your local stores where a $3 off coupon will be available right on the pack IN Stores as well!!!

Also, the wonderful Brand of Clorox is allowing me to give away 3 yes THREE of these wonderful cleaning systems to 3 of my lucky readers !!!! Here is how to enter :

• Must be a subscriber to my blog = comment and tell me you are , u just got yourself an entry!
• Follow me on Twitter, I am @plussizemommy
• Comment and tell me how this Clorox Toilet Wand System can help you get your toilet bowl clean
• Comment and let me know what other products from CLOROX you currently use
• Comment and tell me what your least favorite cleaning project is
• Visit www.clorox.com and come back and comment to me which other products you use or would like to try to have yourself a cleaner home and healthier life?

This giveaway begins NOW and will end on Friday Oct. 30th, 2009 at 9PM Eastern time. 3 Winners will be chosen by random.org. Winners will be posted to this site by Oct. 31st, 2009. Winners will have 48 hours to contact me to claim their prize. Thank you for entering and GOOD LUCK !!!

Also THERE IS A TWITTER PARTY going on and YOUR INVITED !!!!

Twitter Party Oct 23rd from 10-11pm EST   where you can Learn more and WIN more. Prizes include more Clorox Toilet wand kits and also a $100 VISA gift card for a bathroom makeover !!!! Please RSVP  by clicking HERE.

There are 25 bloggers participating in this campaign.

You can see who  by visiting Here. Then you can visit their sites and enter to win there as well  Show them your support and some bloggy love too.

The Plus Size Mommy

*as part of full disclosure, I have been paid by Clorox for hosting the giveaway portion on my blog, by no means has this swayed my view of The Clorox Toilet Wand, as I have been using this product way before I was sent the product to review or the payment to host the giveaway*

SLANKET*

As the nights get colder and my body is chilled, he is Western, PA I am always looking for something to warm me. A hot cup of coffee or tea, a cozy heating blanket, and cuddly blankets. But when I am working on the computer and also having 4 kids, I need freedom to move freely. To be able to type, to be able to chase a toddler, to be able to cook.

In comes The Slanket. I have been sent a Slanket to try out and see how it works for me. To see if it passes the test of keeping me snuggly cozy warm, while still allowing me this freedom.

Well, it passes the test ! Except for cooking. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless microwaving, cause of the long sleeves, wouldn’t want anyone to get caught on fire.

But it totally allows me to blog, while staying warm, and also I can stand up and chase my kids. It is also great, I find, for wearing to cold football games, you can wear your Slanket to keep warm and still root your team on to victory!

And the Slanket comes in a wide variety of colors and now some prints. I hope to soon see some sport logo themed ones! I would surely buy a Steeler one. The Slanket is great for older folks too. When my mom comes to visit she may be cold, and no one else is, so this is perfect for her to wear while visiting.

Here are some FAQ’s about The Slanket :

• Made with 100% Polyester Microfibers
• Machine Washable (another great feature for a mom of 4 kids and a dog)
• It is 60″ x 95″ with huge over sized sleeves

Now you can work, play, talk on the phone, eat popcorn, and cuddle in front of the TV all in the warmth of The Slanket.

*Please note, The Slanket was sent to me last Spring, but it just more sense to me to wait for the review, so you can get the whole “cuddle effect warmth” review of it *

To learn more about The Slanket and/or to purchase one, please visit www.theslanket.com They are also on Twitter and Facebook ! Check out the great colors and prints they have, they are truly wonderful. This would also be great to travel with and also makes a nice present!

Here is to a Warm Winter !!!

The Plus Size Mommy

Where Is the Heart of Your Home?

About Samsung Home Appliances:
Need Home Appliances that help run your home? Bring It On. Whether it’s one of the largest French Door Refrigerators, or the quietest Washer in its class,* you’ll discover that Samsung Home Appliances bring the perfect balance of innovation, convenience, and savings to your home.
Click here to read more about Samsung and where the Heart of My Home is

Paper Culture Stationery*

When asked to do a review on Paper Culture, I jumped to accept the offer. As a lot of my readers already know, I am an office supply freak! Anything to do with paper, pens, office items, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, the more the better!

So you can be assured that when I received the product sample in the mail, I was delighted at the quality of Paper Cultures note cards ! They are made of ECO Friendly heavy weight paper. This is a truly unique concept to me of these cards, how they are printed and also I think they can be used with or without the envelopes. They are THAT good of quality that they are better than a lot of post cards I have seen out there.

They are made with 100% Post consumer recycled paper and are certified carbonfree ! These are PERFECT for someone like me who uses a lot of notecards and thank you notes to convey messages to people but wanting to keep to a going green as much as possible philosophy.

I recently read in our local news that the art of handwriting is getting lost now that the use of technology is so much used. So, I am happy that I still send notes to people I love and friends to stay in touch every now and then.

Although a great feature of Paper Culture is that you can have them print your message right on the card and they will even mail them for you !!! This is amazing to me. This is very very useful for people too busy (like us moms) who want to hold a birthday party for instance but could use an extra few hands to get the invites and/or thank you’s out!

I was totally happy with the Paper Culture sample I received. And from someone who buys gads of these types of items, you can be assured when I tell you this is by far one of the best quality paper products I have ever seen.

I think if you have a chance to use Paper Culture products you too will be throughly satisfied with it as well.

Paper Culture takes great pride in providing stationery without sacrifices including modern designs and premium quality stock paper.  Moreover, their mail and message program allows customers the option of having Paper Culture stuff, address, stamp and mail the cards on their behalf, and until January 1, 2010, the only charge for this service is the actual cost of the stamps!  Holiday cards, anyone?

All Paper Culture papers and envelopes are FSC certified as 100% post consumer recycled paper.    A portion of all Paper Culture proceeds go towards supporting their local community.

This is my absolute favorite, I just love the animals :

Vroom Solo*

I was sent this awesome new, unique vacuum cleaner from Twittermoms & Vroom Solo. It goes under the cabinets and has a long hose so you don’t have to carry the whole box around with you. I have it under my kitchen sink and have been using it for a few weeks now. It works very well. It is extremely convenient for when little messes get onto the kitchen floor or even the counters. I keep my cereal on top of the refrigerator, boxes that aren’t supposed to be open yet. Well occasionally my children sneak and take cereal from there, and then when I go to open the fridge all the cheerios fall all over the place! The Vroom is fantastic at getting these all up. It is always handy and I always know right where it is, unlike my other vacuums which end up on every floor of the house and I have to search for them.

The Vroom is very small and compact yet it pulls out the punches when cleaning up. It is a freestanding unit and it is very easy to dump the garbage out of it, there is a little drawer, and all you have to do is pull it out and dump it into the garbage. It is like a central home vacuum cleaner, which they have also, but this Vroom can and does work in any home!

here is some more info. on the Vroom from the makers :

• Power Unit
• 14.25” deep x 7.25” high x 10.375” wide

I wish I had a Vroom in every room of the home. With 4 children, we always have messes to clean up. You can also win a Vroom of your own. If you go to www.vroomyourroom.com you can enter to win in their monthly drawing. You can also watch the Vroom in action! It is really cool, and makes cleaning up fast, simple, and a little bit fun.

The Plus Size Mommy

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